MDM and URSA, Russia’s eighth and 16th largest banks respectively by Tier 1 capital, announced Russia’s first true bank merger, subject to regulatory approval. MDM deputy chairman Sergei Popov and URSA chairman Igor Kim will become the two largest shareholders in the new entity.
Sales of European company bonds surged in November and December, according to data firm Dealogic. European non-financial companies sold almost $57.5bn of bonds, outstripping most previous totals for this time of year and outstripping the $41.4bn sold in the US.
Institutional investors have withdrawn $507m from Middle Eastern and north African equity markets since mid August, according to MEED magazine. The figure is more than one third of the $1.4bn invested in the region in the first half of 2008.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit ratings of 18 banks in the Gulf Co-operation Council, saying it had become evident the region’s banks were not able to fully insulate themselves from the global credit crisis.
The Irish government said last month it would pour up to E10bn into the country’s banks alongside private investors. The recapitalisation aims to strengthen balance sheets and restore investor confidence.
Part of sovereign wealth fund the Libyan Investment Authority has agreed to buy a large office building in the City of London for about £120m from German fund manager IVG.
Mexican cement giant Cemex failed to refinance a large slice of its debt last month. Shares of the world’s third largest cement maker tumbled 23% as a deal to swap short-term debt for longer-term notes fell through.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) last month offered to buy the Bond Exchange of South Africa (Besa) for R240m ($23.5m) in cash.
Actis, the private equity firm spun out of the UK government-owned Commonwealth Development Fund, raised $2.9bn for its new private equity fund. It will invest in companies in Africa, China, India, Latin America and south-east Asia.
Singapore, the world’s biggest container port, suffered its first fall in throughput traffic since 2001 due to a slowdown in global exports. Traffic shrank by 1.5% in November from a year ago.
